Not surprisingly, Senator Kennedy's absence in the Senate is keenly felt within the bowels of the perennially agitated and restless "gay rights" community, a constituency and cause always near and dear to the "liberal lion's" heart, along with knocking down walls to abortion on demand, the vitriolic, blustering demonization of conservatives and the socialization of health care.
Liberal angst is percolating over perceived Democratic foot-dragging over the controversial question of repealing "don't ask don't tell." During the campaign, Obama promised ad nauseam to overturn the policy so that gays could serve openly in the military. Bill Clinton's reckless dabbling in this hornet's nest (along with foolishly placing health care in Hillary's care) helped turn the Congress over to Republicans in '94 for the first time in some forty years. Déjà vu, anyone? From Politico:
When gay rights advocates march on Washington in October, they’ll be confronting a bleak political landscape in their effort to allow gays to openly serve in the military.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says the Senate is swamped and has little time on the schedule for this fight. The Pentagon brass is reticent and wants a go-slow strategy, while a majority of the rank and file in the military opposes changing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law. With no Republican co-sponsors for a repeal, key moderate Democrats such as Sens. Jim Webb of Virginia and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas remain uncommitted.
And the Senate’s patron saint of this cause, Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), died before being able to introduce long-promised bipartisan legislation to overturn "don’t ask, don’t tell".
I've linked to this several times already, but repetition isn't always a bad thing. MacKubin Thomas Owens wrote an excellent piece explaining why the president and congress shouldn't overturn "don't ask, don't tell." Read it here.
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